Dennis Chominsky helps you get a firm grasp of the simple topics in Premiere in order to advance yourself to exceptional mastering of the program. Follow his steps, and you will be on your way to becoming a top editor.

This chapter should be the quickest and simplest, yet one of the most
important. Getting your footage into and out of Premiere is crucial, but knowing
what to do with it and how to manipulate it after it is in Premiere is just as
important. This chapter covers the theory behind nonlinear editing systems, even
beyond Premiere. Streamlined nonlinear editing systems have an advantage. You
can feel comfortable jumping onto any other nonlinear system and being able to
figure out how it works within a reasonable amount of time (sure, you'll
need to learn where it hides everything, but the overall concepts are still the
same). In essence, Premiere, like its competitors, allows you to select the
portions of the clips you have already digitized into the system and piece them
together in the timeline to produce your final edited program. Although this
chapter covers some fairly basic topics, not having your skills perfected can
really hinder your editing style and limit the quality of your productions. Take
a moment to make sure you are comfortable with all the topics covered in this
chapter.

Working with the Workspace

Efficiency is the key to improving your technique. Premiere allows you to set
up whichever windows and tools you want to be visible (or hidden), depending on
the editing task you are performing. This configuration of windows is called the
workspace. Creating these customizable workspaces allows you to quickly
access the windows necessary for specific tasks while hiding windows that are
unnecessary at the current time, thus saving you a tremendous amount of time.
For tasks you perform regularly, such as digitizing, editing, audio mixing, and
applying effects, creating an individual workspace for each of these tasks
allows you to open all the necessary windows and tools you prefer to have open
(and closing unnecessary windows to avoid cluttering up the screen), all with
one click of the mouse. Now that's efficiency at its best! Utilizing these
types of techniques is what separates the professional editor from the
novice.

You can select one of Premiere's default workspaces:

Single-track editing

A/B editing

Effects

Audio

To create a custom workspace, do the following:

Open or close the necessary windows, leaving only the ones you want
displayed.

Type the name of how you want to refer to the current window layout on
your screen. Try to use descriptive names so that you can easily identify and
distinguish between the various workspaces.

Click OK.

You can switch between workspace settings. Simply select one of the workspace
names that appears under Window > Workspace. As soon as you release the mouse
button, you should see the windows rearrange themselves onscreen to the
positions they were in when saved. Select Delete Workspace to remove any of the
custom workspace environments you create.

NOTE

To toggle between Premiere's default workspaces, Shift-click the F9
through F12 keys on your keyboard.